The Live Oak Lions began the 2012-2013 with a fierce battle against the East Nicolaus Spartans on Friday night. The game had to go to overtime to be decided and the Lions came out on top with a 24-18 win.

The Lions main quarterback Romario Acosta stayed out most of the game due to injury and only threw one pass of 30 yards. The Lions had to rely on their running game and they delivered. In the first half, Cody Herbert made the teams’ only touchdown.

In the 2nd half, the Lions offense came alive with Tyler Raymond and Aaron Pamma each scoring a touchdown. The Lions had the ball with a few ticks left on the clock in the 4th quarter and the game was tied when the Lions decided to kick a field goal for the win. The kick went short. Prior to this, the kicker hadn’t been on the field all night. I asked Lions coach Dan Johnson about this decision, considering they had had a strong running game the whole night. “All you need is a point, but that’s how it goes.”

The missed kick sent the game into overtime. Tyler Raymond scored the touchdown that would win it for the Lions. On the Spartans’ possession, the Spartans attempted to throw to the end zone for a game-tying touchdown and the ball was intercepted by Andrew Lopez to win the game.

Johnson was pleased with how the team fought back and won the ball game. “It was wonderful. They fought back and I’m very happy.” He pointed out that work still needs to be done. “We didn’t play well in the first half. We still have work to do, but this game shows they have the drive to play football.”

The game against East Nicolaus was a non-league game. The Lions play next week at Marysville Indians, who are also a non-league team, who lost to Foresthill in their season opener. That game will be on Friday, August 31.